The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 127 -
An Empty Deception By Evil Spirits
THESE QUITE seriously spoken words of Joseph made a very powerful impression on Cyrenius, and he did not know what to say thereto;
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neither did he trust himself to approach the noticeably somewhat aroused man with another word.
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He therefore said to Tullia, 'You go over to the wise man and explain to him my understandable distress and by it affected excitement of my feelings.
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Ask him for his forgiveness, and assure him that in all the future I shall never again prepare him such a minute.
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I desire only that he will not leave me this time without aid and deny me his assistance.'
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Now Joseph plainly heard what Cyrenius said to Tullia;
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therefore he stood up, went over to Cyrenius and said, 'Noble friend and brother in the Lord God! Until now we have not needed any go-betweens,
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but have always brought any matter between us into the open.
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For what then should your wife be a go-between, as if we two were not sufficient to each other?
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Do you really think that I too could become angry over some matter or other?
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Oh see, therein you would be greatly mistaken about me! My seriousness is only the fruit of my great love to you!
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But that friend is surely a poor one who in time of need cannot give his friend a serious word.
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See, if there were anything to the matter which now gives you such great concern, you ought to be assured that I would have been the first to call your attention to it, as I have so often done at every opportunity.
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But here is nothing more than a wholly empty deception on the part of those evil spirits who were driven away from here.
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They are now taking a blind revenge and want to disquiet us because we drove them from their old nest here.
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See, that is all there is to it! - If you had asked me sooner, before you became excited, you would not even have had to arise from the ground.
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But you immediately trusted your senses and became excited for nothing about nothing.
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But now just sit down again wholly at ease and look at the fire in a relaxed frame of mind, and be assured that it will soon come to an end.'
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but for all that he believed what Joseph had told him although he understood nothing in the matter.
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And Joseph said to the youths in the presence of Cyrenius,
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'Do you also look once toward the spot where those driven away from here carry on their wantonness, so an end may be made thereof for my brother's piece of mind.'
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And the two did so - and behold, in an instant no trace of the fire was to be seen!
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Only now did Cyrenius have a somewhat better idea of what Joseph had told him before and he came into a tremendous respect of the two youths as well as of Joseph.